Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0024141 (systemic lupus erythematosus)
 44,322 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Mannose-binding lectin (MBL)-associated serine protease-2 (MASP-2) is an indispensable enzyme for the activation of the lectin pathway of complement. Its deficiency is classified as a primary immunodeficiency associated to pyogenic bacterial infections, inflammatory lung disease, and autoimmunity. In Europeans, MASP-2 deficiency, due to homozygosity for c.359A > G (p.D120G), occurs in 7 to 14/10,000 individuals. We analyzed the presence of the p.D120G mutation in adults (increasing the sample size of our previous studies) and children. Different groups of patients (1495 adults hospitalized with community-acquired pneumonia, 186 adults with systemic lupus erythematosus, 103 pediatric patients with invasive pneumococcal disease) and control individuals (1119 healthy adult volunteers, 520 adult patients without history of relevant infectious diseases, and a pediatric control group of 311 individuals) were studied. Besides our previously reported MASP-2-deficient healthy adults, we found a new p.D120G homozygous individual from the pediatric control group. We also reviewed p.D120G homozygous individuals reported so far: a total of eleven patients with a highly heterogeneous range of disorders and nine healthy controls (including our four MASP-2-deficient individuals) have been identified by chance in association studies. Individuals with complete deficiencies of several pattern recognition molecules of the lectin pathway (MBL, collectin-10 and collectin-11, and ficolin-3) as well as of MASP-1 and MASP-3 have also been reviewed. Cumulative evidence suggests that MASP-2, and even other components of the LP, are largely redundant in human defenses and that individuals with MASP-2 deficiency do not seem to be particularly prone to infectious or autoimmune diseases.
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PMID:Should MASP-2 Deficiency Be Considered a Primary Immunodeficiency? Relevance of the Lectin Pathway. 3182 94

A procoagulant snake venom serine protease was isolated from the venom of the nose-horned viper (Vipera ammodytes ammodytes). This 34 kDa glycoprotein, termed VaaSP-VX, possesses five kDa N-linked carbohydrates. Amino acid sequencing showed VaaSP-VX to be a chymotrypsin-like serine protease. Structurally, it is highly homologous to VaaSP-6 from the same venom and to nikobin from the venom of Vipera nikolskii, neither of which have known functions. VaaSP-VX does not affect platelets. The specific proteolysis of blood coagulation factors X and V by VaaSP-VX suggests that its blood-coagulation-inducing effect is due to its ability to activate these two blood coagulation factors, which following activation, combine to form the prothrombinase complex. VaaSP-VX may thus represent the first example of a serine protease with such a dual activity, which makes it a highly suitable candidate to replace diluted Russell's viper venom in lupus anticoagulant testing, thus achieving greater reliability of the analysis. As a blood-coagulation-promoting substance that is resistant to serpin inhibition, VaaSP-VX is also interesting from the therapeutic point of view for treating patients suffering from hemophilia.
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PMID:The Procoagulant Snake Venom Serine Protease Potentially Having a Dual, Blood Coagulation Factor V and X-Activating Activity. 3248 89

Spontaneous in vitro hatching of human blastocysts starts with the formation of a tunnel through the zona pellucida (ZP) by cellular projections of trophoblast cells. Our aim was to identify the proteins that are upregulated in these initially hatching cells as compared to trophectoderm (TE) cells from blastocysts that had not yet hatched. Forty seven women that underwent assisted reproduction treatment donated their ICSI-derived polyploid blastocysts for the study. In polyploid blastocysts that started spontaneous hatching, hatched clusters of cells were collected from the outer side of the ZP. Liquid chromatography mass spectrometry was applied to determine the proteins that were upregulated in these cells as compared to TE cells obtained from inside the ZP. Whole non-hatched polyploid blastocysts were used as controls. Overall 1245 proteins were identified in all samples. Forty nine proteins were significantly upregulated in hatching cells and 17 in the TE cells. There was minimal overlap between hatching and TE samples; only serine protease inhibitors (SERPINS) and lipocalin were detected in both samples. Myosin and actin were highly upregulated in the hatching cells as well as paraoxonase, N-acetylmuramoyl alanine amidase, and SERPINS clade A and galectin. In the TE cells, gamma butyrobetaine dioxygenase, lupus La protein, sialidase, lysosomal Pro-X carboxypeptidase, phospholipase b, and SERPINS clade B and A were among the most highly upregulated proteins. These findings may contribute to the basic knowledge of the molecular behavior of the specific cells that actively perforate the glycoprotein matrix of the ZP.
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PMID:Spontaneous in vitro hatching of the human blastocyst: the proteomics of initially hatching cells. 3319 35


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